Besides Productivity, We Should Also Focus on Prioritizing

Prioritizing is definitely one of the keys to success – along with productivity, let’s discuss what lies beneath the surface.

If you conduct research in a mere attempt to find what’s new and hot in terms of most read topics, you’ll definitely stumble upon the subject of productivity.

As if today everybody is obsessed with the idea of being overly productive. Even I’ve written several pieces that cover the productivity topic. Don’t get me wrong, I sincerely believe in the power of productivity – certainly, it’s a great skill that allows us to get more stuff done. Essentially, this helps us convince ourselves just how successful our day was. At the end of it, when we take a look at our to-do list and see all the duties crossed out, we conclude that we managed to do everything right and in accordance with our initial intent.

Being productive is surely seen as a virtue that can definitely take you places. Imagine your professional development without you being productive – it would practically be non-existent. But today I’d like to add yet another useful tactic to the equation without diminishing the importance of productivity.

This useful tactic is called prioritizing.

At first, you may think that there isn’t any significant difference between the two – after all, both tactics encourage us to get stuff done. But if we examine the two approaches more closely, we begin to see vital differences – in a nutshell, it’s prioritizing that, combined with proper productivity, paves our way to professional success.

The magic behind prioritizing and why we should combine productivity with it

Whenever we feel too stressed out over all the things that we have/want to do, we point our direction at productivity.

Essentially, productivity goes with conducting lists – be it to-do lists, schedules, planning, you name it, and the majority of people have probably already tried it. When you come to think about it, there’s nothing more adequate in stressful times than creating lists. This activity allows us to feel in control of the situation. By listing all the tasks and duties that await us, we take a look at the bigger picture and better understand the effort we need to dedicate in order to finish everything in time.

Another productivity technique we often use is implementing various strategies and time management software in order to help us achieve our day/month/year goals.

And while all those productivity tactics are great and, by all means, pivotal to anyone’s success, sometimes we tend to miss one very important aspect of productivity. That’s, of course, prioritizing.

When we prioritize, all we do is take the tasks list and simply reorder it in a way that helps us better see what’s urgent, what’s very important, what can wait, and what is not even necessary to stress over.

Reordering our tasks by urgency is in fact a great way to kill procrastination instantly since we now witness the reality behind our professional duties. You thought this task could wait til next month and then completely forgot about it but now you realize it’s due in three days? You didn’t think sending that email was that important but after revisiting the situation you think otherwise?

As you can see, viewing the tasks with a sense of urgency and importance can actually help us in fact be more productive by focusing our time and effort on what’s of the highest priority.

To be more specific, let’s address some prioritizing tactics that will certainly pay off in the long run

So up till now, we’ve mentioned that prioritizing should be an inseparable part of anyone’s whole productivity routine. Every time you think about what your tasks are, don’t forget to think about which one of them should be of higher priority.

But how exactly can we prioritize? Are there useful tactics that we could implement? As a matter of fact, there is!

• We’ve already mentioned the power of creating lists. Essentially, that’s the very first step toward successful prioritizing. First, you need to have all the tasks for the day/month in front of you. This way you can better submerge yourself in the process.
• The famous Eisenhower Matrix can be incredibly beneficial. In a nutshell, it is a system that helps you to put each task in the correct category: urgent and important; urgent but not important; not urgent but important; neither urgent nor important. By placing your tasks from the list into every category, you’ll surely be able to further conduct a successful working plan that will surely serve your professional needs and responsibilities.
• After you’ve made the list and categorization, pick the tasks that are both urgent and important and then number them in order to know which task you should start working on as soon as possible.
• While working, kill all distractions. Oftentimes prioritizing doesn’t mean ordering tasks only but also ensuring a positive and productive environment. Figure out whatever it is that distracts you and make sure you elevate your focus.
• Be consistent with the act of creating lists and prioritizing. Those two methods work wonders but only if you stick to them for the long run.

Summary

Prioritizing and productivity can really be life changers in terms of everybody’s work life if done right.

Whenever you feel overwhelmed and stressed over work-related tasks and duties that appear to form an endless list of workloads, try those two tactics. I’m sure you’d soon witness their numerous advantages that will help you put everything in order. Essentially, this would drastically improve your work-life balance. We all know this should be number one on anybody’s priority list.